Sati: correlation with society and media

advertisement

July 23, 2012

ISSUE DATE: December 27, 1999

UPDATED: September 14, 2012 13:38 IST

Sati is never a voluntary act ("Medieval Madness", November 29). The instinct of self preservation is greater than any other human emotion. A woman may not always be physically pushed into her husband's funeral pyre, but she is forced into it by her false social conditioning. The society creates the kind of situation in which a widow sees a way out of her misery only on her husband's pyre. Sati is the symptom and the outcome of our distorted social order.

Akanksha prasad, Mumbai

The article on sati shows less the fanaticism of the Indian public and more the insensitivity of the press. Are such incidents really so rampant in our country as to merit the kind of publicity the press gives them? I was surprised to see a magazine of INDIA TODAY's calibre giving in to sensationalism of this kind. It is articles such as these that show our country in a poor light abroad and makes it a laughing stock among foreigners. They also bring no cheer to NRIs like me. Thousands of suicides take place in India. When these do not get any publicity why should these isolated incidents - whether sati or suicide - be featured so prominently? Such stories are unlikely to attract Indians abroad to return home.

Govind pershad, Florida, USA

Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from